Hegel, a universal property-based testing protocol and family of PBT libraries

aw1621107 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

A bit of an intro/announcement blog post for Hegel ("Hypothesis, Antithesis, synthesis", [0]) was submitted here ~2 weeks ago [1] and got a fair bit of discussion (106 comments).

[0]: https://antithesis.com/blog/2026/hegel/

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47504094

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utdemir an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

PSA: On the surface it looks great - but it's something that spawns a Python server (with uv - I think) and does communicate with it during tests. I don't think it's complexity we need to take on on our unit tests.

A saner approach would be to start with a FFI-friendly language and create bindings. I don't think just being able to use an already written framework in Python is worth the trade-off.

	▲	aw1621107 38 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		> A saner approach would be to start with a FFI-friendly language and create bindings. I don't think just being able to use an already written framework in Python is worth the trade-off. For what it's worth the devs say their "current long-term plan is to implement a second Hegel server in Rust" [0], so the current state of affairs is probably a compromise between getting something usable for end users out and something more "sane", as you put it. [0]: https://antithesis.com/blog/2026/hegel/#what%E2%80%99s-next

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tybug 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I didn't expect to see Hegel when opening up HN today! Feel free to ask any questions about it. We released hegel-go earlier this week, and plan to release hegel-cpp sometime next week, so look forward to that :)

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samth 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Is the protocol documented so that other people can build language front-ends?

	▲	tybug 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes! I just wrote up documentation for the protocol earlier this week: https://hegel.dev/reference/protocol. In reality, we hope to provide more guidance than this to people who want to write their own language frontend. This protocol reference doesn't talk about the realities of [hegel-core](https://github.com/hegeldev/hegel-core) and how to invoke it, for example. We intend to write a "How to write your own Hegel library" how-to guide. You can subscribe to this issue to get notified when we write that: https://github.com/hegeldev/website/issues/3. If you're eager, pointing your favorite LLM at https://hegel.dev/reference/protocol + https://github.com/hegeldev/hegel-rust and asking it to write you one for your language of choice should be enough to get you started!

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triplechill 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Awesome! I've been waiting for hegel-go and can't wait to take it for a spin

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delis-thumbs-7e 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I’m studying currently Phenomenology of Geist. No code is so gard to read as it.

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mykowebhn 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Did you start with the Preface, or are you going to read it at the end?

(I strongly recommend the latter.)

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efficax 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Just wait until you get into the Science of Logic

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sigbottle 2 hours ago | parent [-]

I'm starting with the Science of Logic!

I want to cry...

	▲	mykowebhn 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The first part of his Encyclopedia will help a lot, and might be better to read first before diving into SoL.

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mykowebhn 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Oh god, as someone who studies and admires Hegel, please change the name from Hegel.

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sigbottle 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yo what has been the coolest thing about Hegel's philosophy you learned?

	▲	mykowebhn 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		(I can really only do your question a modicum of justice by answering metaphorically.) That Anglo-American analytic philosophy, which has dominated much of 20th century Western philosophy and Western thought, was doomed from the start. It treated ontological Being as fixed, as beings nailed to a wall, lifeless and immobile. Hegelian philosophy, more than anything, is about movement.

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aerhardt 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Why? It’s perfectly coherent with the group of libraries and what they do.

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bwestergard 2 hours ago | parent [-]

It isn't. See: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2708045

	▲	aerhardt an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I’ve read primary text excerpts from Hegel and some secondary sources too, and already knew that he didn’t write in that style, but the general idea that many forces in life develop themselves dialectically (the antithesis sometimes being expressed as alienation) is very similar in concept. That a myth has developed around the terminology and methodology is persuading, but also there’s nothing wrong with a programming library to call itself Hegel. Interesting paper regardless thanks for sharing.

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henry_bone 33 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

On the other hand, I have quite the visceral reaction to the name because of the influence Hegel had on Marx, and subsequent 20th century critical theorists.

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supliminal 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

A Hegel just flew over your house.

	▲	tensegrist an hour ago \| parent [-]
		does anyone actually say it like that

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MoonWalk 9 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Now that's how you write a title.

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aerhardt 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Off-topic but only today I was thinking of Hegel-related names for a certain business idea. Was wondering who had registered all the domains, well here's one. It would a completely different domain, and also a derivation of the name, so nothing to worry about there. But if I build something in Rust, I'll remember you :)